


Strong Where It Matters

by wordbending



Series: Alphys Appreciation Week [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alphyne-Centric, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:52:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18422268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordbending/pseuds/wordbending
Summary: Alphys has had a membership to the gym for six months, but hasn't even gone once. But when Undyne convinces her to go, can she stop herself from comparing herself to her girlfriend? Can she ever feel like she doesn't come up short, when Undyne's so strong, and she's so... not?





	Strong Where It Matters

“Do you have... do you have to _run_ to the gym?” asks Alphys, in a gray sweatshirt and shorts.

“Heck yeah! It’s called a _warm-up!_ That’s the _most_ _important part!”_ Undyne shouts, wearing gym clothes of her own, a tank top with an image of two crossed spears and a skull, and black track pants.

“But... if it’s a warm up...” says Alphys, from where she’s seated above Undyne’s head, while Undyne carries her like a particularly large shotput. “Shouldn’t _I_ be running?!”

“Nah! It’s a warm-up for me!” Undyne explains, sounding not at all winded. “You need to save your energy for the real deal!”

She comes screeching to a stop and Alphys tumbles out of her hands and right into Undyne’s waiting arms. She stares up at Undyne’s grinning, not-sweaty face and blushes, as she does every single time she sees Undyne.

“Anyway, we’re here!”

Undyne sets Alphys down (to Alphys’ disappointment) and the two of them walk into Undyne’s gym and check in. Alphys has actually had a membership to the gym for almost six months now, but she’s never gone to it once. It’s only because Undyne had insisted that exercise was good for her mental health that she was going to it now.

Well, no time like the present.

* * *

Undyne takes two dumbbells that Alphys can only assume she had special-ordered, because they’re _enormous._ They weigh over two-hundred pounds, each, and they don’t even so much as make Undyne wince.

“Take whatever weight’s comfortable for you!” Undyne suggests, grinning. She’s already started to lift her own dumbbells, easily raising her forearms and then slowly lowering them back down with a “One... two! One... two!”

Alphys stares at the dumbbells, dumbfounded. It takes her a solid thirty seconds before she tentatively reaches out for the twenty pound set.

She can’t even lift them off the rack.

“It’s not about weight, Alphy!” says Undyne. “It’s about endurance, not strength!”

“But isn’t... isn’t it kind of pathetic to get the smallest weight?” Alphys asks, poking her claws together.

“Alphy... you’re not pathetic,” says Undyne. “That’s what the smaller weights are for. You’ve got to work up to the heavy weights. You think I was able to lift these babies from day one?”

Alphys tries to imagine Undyne as a two-eyed preschooler lifting fifteen times her weight. It’s... surprisingly easy to envision.

“Maybe?”

“Fuhuhu!” Undyne laughs. “Well, I didn’t! Grab a smaller set.”

Alphys takes a look at the rack again, then shuts her eyes and takes the five pound weights off. She lifts them effortlessly, feeling grateful she’s not _that_ weak.

“How do those feel?” says Undyne, putting her own dumbbells back on the rack.

“Good,” says Alphys. “So, uh, what... what do I do?”

Undyne smiles, walks over, and stands behind Alphys. Alphys blushes (again) as Undyne takes her arms in her hands. “OK. First, you rest your arms at your side, with the dumbbell parallel to you, like this. Then...” She lifts Alphys’ left arm slowly, easily supporting Alphys’ arm with her own. “You curl your arm upwards ‘til the dumbbell’s at chest level. Flex your bicep.”

Alphys nods. Her soul pounds in her chest at Undyne’s closeness to her. Undyne is practically whispering in her ear.

“Then, slowly, you lower the dumbbell back down until it’s parallel with your body again,” she says, and Alphys follows her instructions even though she’s more focused on how Undyne’s chest is pressed up against the back of her head. ”That’s one rep. Think you can do the right arm?”

Alphys raises her right arm. Gently, when she lowers it too quickly, Undyne stabilizes her arm and helps her lower it more slowly. “L-like this?”

Undyne grins. “Just like that! Now, let’s do it again!”

* * *

“I’M GOING TO BE CRUSHED,” Alphys shouts.

“YOU’RE NOT GONNA BE CRUSHED!!!” Undyne shouts back. Every monster and human in the gym is staring at them both, but Alphys’ only concern is the leg press machine Undyne had just pulled the unlock handle on. Alphys is sure it’s going to compress her into a pancake. “Trust me! I do this all the time!”

“I thought you skipped leg day?!”

“I don’t skip ANY day! Got to train all your muscles! Your arms, your chest, your abdomen, your legs, and most of all, your BRAIN!”

“You, um, have a brain day?”

“Hell yeah! I _powerlift books!_ I can rearrange whole libraries by just lifting the shelves! And, sometimes, I even read ‘em!”

Alphys supposes that makes sense, in an Undyne way.

She tries to push her legs back against the footplate, but she struggles to push it back up to its original position as her legs stubbornly pressed down against her chest and stomach.

In a moment, Undyne grabs the footplate with one hand, pushes it back to its original position, and pulls the handle to relock it. Alphys lets out a sigh of relief.

“We must have put too much weight on it...” Undyne says, hand on her chin as she stares at the two ten-pound weights on the machine. “Let’s try something lower.”

“Can we... can we not try that at all? I don’t think I’m, uh, ready for that.”

Undyne smiled. “Of course, Alphy! Let’s do something easier.”

* * *

“RAISE YOUR LEGS WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT! SHOW THAT WEIGHT WHO’S BOSS!”

“Nngh... I’m... I’m trying!”

Undyne lowers her legs next to her legs as if to encourage them better and shouts “DON’T TRY! DO!”, while Alphys strains to get her last rep done on the leg extension machine. Slowly, very slowly, she manages to extend her legs all the way before carefully lowering them.

“HELL YEAH!” Undyne shouts, before giving Alphys a high five. “I knew you could do it!”

She hands Alphys a water bottle and Alphys gratefully takes off the cap and downs it as quickly as possible. Her brow - or, really, her whole body - is drenched in sweat.

“You getting tired, Alphy?” Undyne offers. “We can call it a day.”

Alphys shakes her head. If she quit now, she thinks, she’d look even more pathetic. “No, no, I can handle it. We’ve... we’ve only just started, right?”

Undyne grins. “That’s the spirit!”

* * *

Alphys stares at the barbell with no small amount of trepidation. She’s heard of what these things can do to you if you’re not careful, and she doesn’t have very much confidence that she’ll be able to lift one even once.

But Undyne is acting as her spotter, she reminds herself. If anything happens, Undyne will save her.

Undyne sets a five-pound weight on each side of the bar. “You ready, Alphy?”

Alphys nods, feeling her body pulse with Determination. She can do this. She can do this. “Yeah, I’m... I’m ready.”

“More confidence!” Undyne says.

“I can do this!” Alphys repeats, louder.

“There we go!” Undyne shouts. “Can you lift it?”

Alphys nods. She puts both hands on the bar and slowly begins to lift it off the rack. It doesn’t feel too heavy. She can definitely lift it. “Yeah, I got it.”

“OK, now raise it up slowly. Take a deep breath. Breathing is your magic!”

Alphys raises the bar up above her head, keeping it at chest level. It’s... a little hard for her to keep balanced, but she manages. While she lifts it, she takes in a deep breath.

“Now lower it..”

Alphys lowers it, just as slowly, exhaling as she does.

“There we go! Now again!”

Alphys starts lifting and lowering the bar in a slow, steady rhythm, breathing in and out with every rep. But, the more she does it, the more tired she feels, and the harder it gets for her to balance the bar above her head.

Alarmingly, her arms start to wobble, and then the bar slips from her grip. It’s falling right down towards her chest and _oh god_ she’s going to _die_ -

Undyne grabs it and puts it back on the rack.

“I’m... I’m so sorry,” Alphys stammers, flinching. God, she can't even lift ten pounds? She's so pathetic. “I... I... didn’t mean to...”

“Good job! That wasn’t bad at all!” Undyne just says in return, grinning, and Alphys lets out a sigh of relief.

* * *

Alphys feels like she’s going to fall over and roll down the treadmill facefirst, and she’s only been on it for twenty minutes.

Undyne, on the treadmill next to her’s, jogs without even breaking a sweat. She hasn’t broke a sweat this whole gym trip. Alphys knows it’s not fair to herself to compare herself to _Undyne,_ but... it just makes her feel like she’s even less suited for her girlfriend. Her girlfriend is a strong and powerful lesbian warrior, while she’s a weak, fat bisexual trainwreck. She can’t help but feel inferior.

“Alphy,” says Undyne. “You OK?”

“F-fine,” Alphys says, taking a deep breath. “Just getting... getting tired.”

“I know what will get you going!”

Alphys stares at her. “What?”

“Imagine you’re running towards a bunch of fans of that one anime you really hate! And, if you reach them, you can yell at them about how it’s freaking terrible!”

Alphys nods. She tries to imagine it - a bunch of fans of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 waiting for her, waiting for her to share with them the Truth. She can turn them. She can show them the light.

She imagines their grinning faces, mocking her, judging her. She imagines they’re the ones calling her fat and weak too, just because.

Instantly, she gets her second wind again, jogging faster and with more enthusiasm.

“MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE 2 IS NEITHER KISSY NOR CUTIE!” she yells.

“THERE WE GO!” Undyne shouts.

* * *

“Ngggggh!” Undyne groans as she squats down, a barbell and seven hundred hundred pounds of weight on her upper back. Alphys is sure it must be crushing her poor girlfriend - Undyne only weighs a hundred and eighty pounds! How is she able to lift that much weight?!

“You can do it, Undyne!” Alphys encourages her, while Papyrus stands behind her, called to the gym specifically to act as Undyne’s spotter.

“I AM AN EXCELLENT SPOTTER!” says Papyrus. “I SPOT... THIS MASSIVE WEIGHT CRUSHING YOU INTO A FINE, DELICIOUS SAUCE MIX???”

“I’M... NOT... GOING TO... BECOME SPAGHETTI SAUCE!” replies Undyne, lifting the barbell higher and higher with every word. Sweat pours down her brow. The more she tries, the more she obviously struggles, until Papyrus begins to look very nervous.

“Undyne!” Alphys says, trying desperately to think of something that will encourage Undyne. What she says is the first thing that comes to mind. “If you can lift this, I’ll... I’ll give you a... k-kiss!”

“NGGGGGAH!” Undyne screams, instantly getting her own second wind. She lifts the barbell in one single smooth motion, until she’s standing fully upright, grinning victoriously. Alphys cheers.

And, at that very moment, Papyrus lifts his hand and the barbell glows blue. He effortlessly raises it, takes the weights off, and sets them all down.

“WHAT A STUNNING DISPLAY, UNDYNE!” Papyrus says, clapping. His clap sounds like a slightly muffled version of two blocks of wood being knocked together.

Undyne wipes her brow. “And you had full confidence in me from the start, right, Paps?”

“OF COURSE! YOU ALWAYS RAISE THE BAR! NYEH HEH HEH”

“Now then,” says Undyne, turning her head towards Alphys. Alphys blushes crimson - _oh right_ , she thinks. _The kiss I promised. The kiss I promised to Undyne. The kiss that was planned for Undyne. Undyne’s kiss._

She doesn’t hesitate a moment longer. She grabs Undyne by the tank top and pulls her down until their lips slam together. Undyne grabs her neck frills and pulls her close, kissing her hard, nearly lifting her off the ground.

“OH, TRUE LOVE!” Papyrus says, putting one hand over his heart and lifting the other one. “IT LIFTS MY SPIRITS... AND YOU!!!”

...And then the two of them are off the ground, spinning in each other’s arms and laughing, and they kiss each other again. They’re both gross and sweaty and the entire gym is staring at them, but neither of them care the tiniest bit - they’re both just so happy, so grateful to have one another.

When they finally do break away from the kiss and get set back on the ground, Alphys and Undyne are still laughing. Undyne presses her forehead against Alphys’ and grins.

“I love you,” says Alphys.

“I love you too, Alphy,” says Undyne, grinning.

“AND I LOVE YOU BOTH!” adds Papyrus.

Undyne grins wider, Alphys smiles, and the two of them wrap their arms around Papyrus’ neck and pull him in for a hug.

* * *

Undyne slowly and gently carries Alphys back home, Alphys’ smaller body on Undyne’s back. Alphys thinks she could fall asleep like this - she actually might. It wouldn’t surprise her.

“Undyne...” she says quietly.

“Yeah, Alphy?” Undyne replies.

“You’re... you’re so strong,” she says, barely able to focus. “Why did you want to be with me, when I’m so... so... pathetic?”

“You’re _not_ pathetic,” says Undyne, without breaking her “You’re not weak either. You’re the strongest girl I know. You’re strong where it matters.”

“Where it matters...?” Alphys repeats.

“On the inside,” Undyne says. “I really admire you, Alphys. You’re so kind and sweet, and you try really hard to do the right thing, and you own up to your mistakes no matter how bad they are. And, today, you gave your best effort into something really hard for anyone to do. That’s not pathetic to me.”

Alphys understands the implications, or at least she thinks she does. “You’re like that too. You’re strong on the outside _and_ the inside.”

“I guess,” Undyne says, and Alphys doesn’t think she’s ever seen her so vulnerable.

“Frisk thinks that too,” Alphys says. “Papyrus, Sans, Asgore, Toriel, Asriel, Chara... everyone thinks that about you. They all know you’re really strong. Where it matters.”

Undyne pauses mid-walk. “But I can only do it thanks to you, Alphy. Your strength’s what gives me my strength.”

Alphys smiles and rests her head against Undyne’s back.

She gives Undyne strength, huh? She supposes that _is_ its own kind of power.

Eventually, as Undyne walks her home, she falls asleep.

And she wakes up the next morning on the couch, with a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her and Undyne’s grinning face staring at her.

Then she tries to move, feels every part of her body scream at her, and vows never, ever to go to the gym again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Ivy for reading this fic for me!


End file.
